Monetary Authority of Singapore reviews BNPL regulation

MAS wants to ensure regulations are risk-proportionate and evenly applied across providers. hoolah, which launched its service back in 2018, saw transaction volumes increase sevenfold in just six months in 2020. Currently, Singapore is home to 1.1 million BNPL users, or around 38% of the nation’s population, according to an October 2020 Finder survey.

Firms such as Grab, Atome, Razor partner Rely, Split, OctiFi, and hoolah all provide BNPL options. Some of these smaller players are well-capitalised too. hoolah landed an eight-figure Series A in March 2020, whilst Rely landed USD 75 million in December 2020. Unlike the Western markets, where the likes of Klarna in Europe and Affirm in the US have popularised the payment method, Singapore is still somewhat of ‘a fledgling’ BNPL market according to local business publication Vulcan Post, as stated by LapthrinX.